


Collated Accounts of the Infinity Train: A summary

by Timeline15



Category: Infinity Train (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Mythology - Freeform, Written in the style of a scientific paper, some post-canon Tulip and Lake, the train's appearences thoughout history
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:54:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25271218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timeline15/pseuds/Timeline15
Summary: For centuries, Human mythology has held one common story; the story of a supernatural, seemingly endless train. Accounts of the train dating back to before the 21st century are fragmentary, and have not been collated in a single work previously. In this paper, I will summarise a collated series of accounts by both witnesses and former passengers of the train, in order to better outline its appearances throughout history.
Comments: 31
Kudos: 97





	Collated Accounts of the Infinity Train: A summary

Collated Accounts of the “Infinity Train”

Throughout the centuries, many legends have been commonplace in human history, none more prevalent than the phenomenon of the “Infinity Train”. The legend concerns a machine (or in some retellings, a living entity) which takes the form of a vehicle, (most often, as the name suggests, a locomotive) which holds anyone who boards it hostage, and puts said unfortunate victims through a series of trial in order to escape.

For much of history, accounts of the train were fragmentary, with abductees often being treated as delusional or insane by their contemporaries. It wasn’t until the advent of the digital age that evidence of the train’s existence started mounting, leading to the eventual transition from myth to accepted reality. Accounts of the train have been documented elsewhere, but only individually, or with focus on a specific period of history. Here, I collate a selection of accounts by abductees and witnesses, from multiple eras of history.

**Account taken from old English legend, circa 1200:**

_“Woe betide thee who wanders alone; who shields from the world a guilty soul. Woe betide thee who clings to vices, or runs from one’s demons. If thou beest such a man, do not stray from the path at night, or remember too late to look over thine shoulder. For if thou doest, thou will surely meet the iron serpent. The serpent doth know no mercy; no hesitation. It doth know only hunger. Thee who it doest judge unworthy, will surely be spirited away; the terrifying wail of the beast the only telling of thine end.”_

* * *

It is unclear whether the description of a "serpent" is indicative of the train's ability to change form (and, indeed, if it even resembled a train in the era before humanity invented such vehicles), or if the image of a snake was simply the author's attempt to interpret the sight of a train with no frame of reference. By the 1800s however, trains were becoming more commonplace, with massive railway construction projects taking place in the United States. It is in this setting that more conventional descriptions of the train can be found:

**Account taken from the correspondences of two senior rail workers, March 1860:**

_“Abe, we have been through this countless times. These stories (and I use the word highly charitably) that your workers are spreading around are simply nonsense. The damn line isn’t even finished yet. How in God’s name can there already be a train travelling on it? And spiriting workers away in the dead of night? Good heavens man; surely you must see that this is merely a ploy by those layabouts you call employees to get some time off. If our teams are to meet up at the agreed upon location, you need to have laid the rest of your line by the end of the week. I don’t care how you do it. Just get it done.”_

_“George, while I cannot blame you for being dismissive given the lack of evidence, I cannot in good conscience order the worker to continue. Another man vanished last night; one of the trainees; little more than a boy. And the whistle. By God that whistle. Everyone in the camp, myself included, heard the sound. It was a train; make no mistake, but nothing like any train I’ve ever heard. I suspect you will probably tell me the boy simply wandered off the beaten track, and got himself skewered by some passing Indians, but my men and I know what we heard. Perhaps you won’t be so flippant when it is your camp that it being visited.”_

* * *

**Excerpt from the Traverse City Gazette, June 1965:**

_BOY FOUND ALIVE AFTER FIVE MONTHS._

_A thirteen-year-old boy from the Traverse City area has been found “alive and in good health” according to local police reports. Julian Hernandez was declared missing in early May, with subsequent investigations turning up no evidence. When reached out to for comment regarding the circumstances of his disappearance and miraculous return, Julian gave us the following reply: “I know how ridiculous this is going to sound, but there was a train; not at a station or anything, just in the middle of a field, out of nowhere. I’ve lived here for ten years; there had never been train lines there before that day. I could tell you about what happened while I was stuck on that thing, but it’d only make me sound crazier than I already do. I’d just like to reassure my family that I’m in a good place now, and if my… if Billy is reading this, I want him to know that I forgive him, and… I’d like to try again.”_

* * *

**Excerpt from the first detailed retelling of a passenger’s experience, “Adventures on the Infinite Train” by Dr Tulip Olsen, published October 2035:**

_“Even after thinking back on it for so many years, I’ll never understand why I wasn’t more suspicious. An unmarked train station on the middle of a snowy field was hardly typical; even someone who had never seen a train in person should’ve figured that. Still, that’s what you do when you’re young, isn’t it? Run headfirst into situation, leaving thoughts of the consequences for later?_

_Looking back, everything about the train was sinister, even in the disguise it took in our world. The exterior was rusted, the lights from the windows and signs was a sickly green; It looked to the entire world like the sort of ghost train you’d read about in a scary story. And yet… I got on. Without going into details, let’s just say that my situation at home at the time felt less welcoming than even the most unsettling train._

_When the train pulled to a stop in front of me, the sign on its side lit up to spell out “Osh Kosh”; my exact intended destination. I don’t even want to think about how it knew that was where I wanted to go. It’s clear that the train can observe the “real world” somehow. I still wonder sometimes how long it had been watching me before deciding to pick me up._

_Putting that particular piece of existential terror to one side for now though, the instant I put a foot onto the train, it grabbed me. The interior, which had been pitch black before, transformed into a bright, swirling vortex, pulling me in. The process must have knocked me out, because I didn’t return to consciousness until I was already inside one of the train’s carriages. In the years since, I’ve read accounts by other former passengers that have helped fill in the gaps about what may have happened to me between those two points, and honestly, I regret having done so. I won’t frighten you with the details, but from the knowledge I’ve acquired second-hand, the way the train ‘processes’ its passengers isn’t exactly pleasant._

_But do you know what the funny thing is? Despite everything you’ve just read, I don’t regret getting on that train. How can that possibly be?, you must be asking; it sounds awful. Well, read on, and I’ll explain my journey on the train, the friends I met along the way, and how the experience changed me for the better.”_

* * *

Dr Olsen was not the only former passenger to have referred to her experiences aboard the train in a positive light; many of the trains abductees have since claimed to have overcome personal struggles, or forged happy memories, though their experience on the train. The veracity of these interpretations is of course subject to question, as experiences of many forms of trauma and abuse can be viewed though a similarly rose-tinted lens, but the frequency of these accounts leads me to support the suggestion put forward by some passengers that the train exists for the _explicit purpose_ of resolving psychiatric issues.

Despite this interpretation, other former passengers have been less glowing in their retellings:

**Excerpt from the transcript of an interview with Mrs Lake Cosay, alleged former passenger, April 2036:**

_“What are your feelings towards the train, more than a decade and a half after your return?”_

_“Man, fuck that train. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be here without it, and I mean that in a couple of ways, but it’s still messed up. You don’t get to just kidnap people because you want them to work through their baggage! Sure, I got a great life out of it, but a lot of other people didn’t. Some people missed out on years; decades of their lives, all because some vehicle decided they didn’t deserve those years. There are people still on that train right now, who would give anything to get off, but the train won’t let them. That’s its idea of “help”.”_

_“Some of your experiences on the train have obviously stayed with you in a more physical sense as well. Could you tell us about the events on the train that resulted in the change to your skin?”_

_“…No comment.”_

* * *

It is the personal opinion of this author that Mrs Cosay was not being entirely forthcoming about the nature of her experiences on the train. With the exception of a few minor injuries, there are no other recorded instances of passenger returning from the train with any alteration having been made to their bodies. I could offer hypotheses on her condition, but that is beyond the scope of this work.

Accounts much like those listed above became more and more commonplace as time went on, and image-capturing technology became more and more ubiquitous in our daily lives. By the mid-21st century, images and even video recordings of the train’s visits to our plane of reality became publicly available, elevating the former legend to a known phenomenon. I will end this collection with an account just a few weeks old, only recently made public, at the behest of the governments of the core worlds:

**Transcript of a log entry by Captain Gregory T’laak of the USS Tien Yow, stardate 57844.9:**

_“Captain’s log, supplemental: We have made little progress in our analysis of the mysterious vessel that materialised seemingly out of nowhere two days ago. The vessel’s configuration matches nothing on record, and despite the archaic appearance of the materials used in its construction, we have been unable to penetrate its hull with our sensors. More worryingly, we have still not succeeded in making contact with the away team that beamed over, or with Ensign Bower, who vanished from the ship at the time the mysterious vessel appeared. We have already thwarted multiple attempts by the vessel to open some kind of subspace aperture, thanks to the diligent work of my engineering team, but it remains unclear how long we can keep the vessel in normal space, or if what will happen to our crew members should the it successfully return to its place of origin.”_

* * *

This is but a selection of the many accounts of the train’s activities through the ages. Whatever the nature of this incredibly powerful entity, it appears to be incredibly prolific. If the most recent estimates are to be believed, the train may be abducting thousands of sentient life forms each year. Fortunately, the vast majority (over 90% according to official figures) are returned within five years of abduction, almost always without major injury. There have been no others whose circumstances match those of Lake Cosay; her unique appearance reoccurring only in some of her own descendants.

Despite all the scientific advances we have made, the true nature of the trains still eludes us. I can only hope that this contribution aids those who are still working to further our understanding of this incredible phenomenon.

* * *

References:

 **1:** Dennis, O., 2016. Infinity Train, p.1

 **2:** Dunst, A., 2209. The Myths and Legends of 12th Century England; a curated collection, p.204

 **3:** Excerpts downloaded with permission from the federation database of 19th and 20th Century Earth media.

 **4:** Olsen, T., 2035. Adventures on the Infinite Train, p.2

 **5:** Vinther, J., 2028. The Infinity Train: Use of digital imaging in confirming historical mythology, p.34

 **6:** Excerpts downloaded with permission from federation news station 1

**Author's Note:**

> So... this might be the strangest fic I've ever written xD. I hope it wasn't too odd. Can you tell I've had to write a lot of scientific reports in my time? I'd love tyo write more fo this fandom in the future, so please let me know what you think.


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